Lawmakers call for better suicide prevention measures for veterans

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (left) and U.S. Rep. Jon Runyon (right) hold a press conference at the NJ World War II Memorial for a bipartisan call to congress to appropriate $40 million for military and veterans suicide prevention. (Trentonian Photo/ GREGG SLABODA)

TRENTON — Veterans who suffer the angst of post-traumatic stress and suicidal tendencies, do not have to keep silent any longer.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R-NJ) showed their bipartisan support during a press conference on Tuesday morning, calling on Congress to renew federal support for military and veteran suicide prevention.

In 2011, Holt and Runyan secured $40 million in funding for suicide prevention and outreach efforts, such as the Vets 4 Warriors program, a national veteran-support call center, based out of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey campus in Piscataway. “Depression anxiety and PTSD loom large in the presenting problem,” said Christopher Kosseff, President and CEO of University Behavioral HealthCare and University Correctional HealthCare.

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The 18-month old peer-to-peer organization offers advice, support or even just a sympathetic listener to thousands of vets around the country, fielding inbound calls and pro-actively helping through outbound measures.

“The cost of this potentially lifesaving service is about $4 per service member per year and most of this money goes to pay and train the peer veteran counselors,” said Kosseff.

In early April, Holt and Runyan wrote a letter to congress, asking the Department of Defense and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs to appropriate the $40 million for the suicide prevention programs for fiscal year 2014.

“We recognize that you must balance a number of competing interests and requirements as you prepare the final appropriations vehicle for the coming year,” said the letter. “However, we know you share our deep concern about the ongoing suicide epidemic among our veteran population. As for the Ninth Circuit noted in 2011, the VA has acknowledged that an estimated 18 veterans complete suicide everyday—over 6,500 a year. We lose more veterans to suicide every year, than we do to hostile fire or enemy action, and by a huge margain.”

“When you are on duty, you are always on, you are constantly a soldier,” said Mathew Keiper. The 30-year-old vet fought in Iraq, with a tour of duty which lasted 15 months. He is now a peer counselor who works at the call center. “The hardest part is while you are on duty, you are hyper vigilant, all the time, and it is really hard to turn that off when you come back into civilian life.”

For more information or if you are a vet in need of counseling please call 1-866-VET TALK or live chat at Vet4warriors.com